What boxoffice runs are unbelievable in retrospect?

[The Panda]

Avatar was an astounding leggy movie in spite of its already big opening and there is not a possible comparison with any other blockbuster. A x10 multiplier from a over $70m opening is absurd. But Titanic was another thing. It goes beyond the absurd. It is unique. This is the showdown adjusted:

http://boxofficemojo.com/showdowns/chart/?view=weekend&adjust_yr=2015&adjust_mo=&id=alltimegrossvs.htm

Look at 10th weekend of each film. Titanic did $36m (God level legs), Avatar $16m (Superb legs). Then, Phantom Menace, another leggy film, with a great $6m weekend (great legs). And finally the "usual" blockbusters like TDK, Avengers or Shrek 2, making barely $2m or $3m (normal legs).

Don't forget Frozen, 9.1m on its 10th and that was a week after a holiday. 11th (Super Bowl weekend) 8.9m

[peludo]

Don't forget Frozen, 9.1m on its 10th and that was a week after a holiday. 11th (Super Bowl weekend) 8.9m

Sure. Just talking about the films of the showdown in the link. Frozen had one of the best runs in recent history. It is at top 5 from 5th to 10th biggest weekend unadjusted ever, both included. That is amazing.

[Avatree]

Shrek 2 for me.

[Ethan Hunt]

One of these days this is gonna be American Sniper

[mahnamahna]

One of these days this is gonna be American Sniper

It's not already there?? 

 

Seriously though, I'd rank the top 10 most unbelievable BO runs:

 

1. Titanic
2. Avatar
3. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 
5. The Passion of the Christ 
6. American Sniper (A+ CinemaScore, Clint's fanbase typically waiting till after OW, minimal competition - Kingsman and Jupiter should do mid-level numbers... but I could see this playing all the way until March 20. I'm getting Passion of the Christ vibes from this) 
7. The Blind Side 
8. Frozen
9. Star Wars Episode IV 
10. Forrest Gump 

All of the ones I listed weren't even predicted to do even half of what they ended up doing. That makes them the most unbelievable to me. 

Edited January 17, 2015 by mahnamahna

[acsc1312]

TDK

Titanic

Avatar

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Edited January 17, 2015 by acsc1312

[CelestialFairyIX]

I don't think we will see a Frozen-box office run for quite some time.  Truly, Frozen was/is a behemoth in terms of popular cultural impact, more so than any of the recent animated films to have come out these past two decades.  However, I want to remain optimistic that another animated (or not) movie will surprise us!  I cannot die a happy human being without experiencing an animated film winning an Oscar for best picture!  (In my OPINION, Beauty and the Beast should have won that Best Picture Oscar but I also understand why it did not, sadly).

[Jonwo]

The Blind Side's run was pretty amazing, not only did it do decently against the hyped New Moon but it managed to increase the weekend after and got to number 1, the weekend after that. 

[lab276]

Not a film but 1946 (the biggest year ever at the box office):

"Hollywood could console itself after all those critical sneers during 1946 (TIME, Jan. 20). U.S. movies never enjoyed such a smashingly profitable year at the box office.

Variety added up the score:

In all, 19 pictures made $4 million or more, apiece. Until 1946, only 25 pictures in Hollywood history had done that well."

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778939,00.html

Can you imagine something like that happening now? It would be like if there were 15 movies this year that crossed $400m.

[Mattrek]

The Blind Side's run was pretty amazing, not only did it do decently against the hyped New Moon but it managed to increase the weekend after and got to number 1, the weekend after that.

I remember a blindside over 150m club where everyone except me, I believe baumer and a couple others were out. I remember everyone ridiculing how insane the club was and that we were setting ourselves up for disappointment. It ended up more then doubling it.

[Jonwo]

Gone with the Wind was a huge phenomenon in its day, considering it was only released in roadshow format for over a year before a general release in 1941. I wonder had it not been for WWII, how big it could been OS although TBH OS tracking from that era is patchy at best.

 

The Sound of Music is another good example, that actually saved Fox after Cleopatra almost bankrupted the studio because it made so much money although I think being a Julie Andrews film after the success she had with Mary Poppins and based on a popular musical was a factor too

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Not a film but 1946 (the biggest year ever at the box office):

"Hollywood could console itself after all those critical sneers during 1946 (TIME, Jan. 20). U.S. movies never enjoyed such a smashingly profitable year at the box office.

Variety added up the score:

In all, 19 pictures made $4 million or more, apiece. Until 1946, only 25 pictures in Hollywood history had done that well."

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778939,00.html

Can you imagine something like that happening now? It would be like if there were 15 movies this year that crossed $400m.

 

It kind of makes sense if you think about it: 1946 was the first full year after WWII (millions of solders returning home) and TV hadn't taken off yet. Much easier for movie attendance to be super high in a time when people only had radio shows to listen to at home. Nice article, though, shows that people were complaining about the quality of movies back in the good-old days as well.

 

Wild Hogs making nearly $170M.

Edited January 18, 2015 by BoxOfficeChica

[Ethan Hunt]

It's not already there??

Seriously though, I'd rank the top 10 most unbelievable BO runs:

• Titanic
• Avatar
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• The Passion of the Christ
• American Sniper (A+ CinemaScore, Clint's fanbase typically waiting till after OW, minimal competition - Kingsman and Jupiter should do mid-level numbers... but I could see this playing all the way until March 20. I'm getting Passion of the Christ vibes from this)
• The Blind Side
• Frozen
• Star Wars Episode IV
• Forrest Gump

All of the ones I listed weren't even predicted to do even half of what they ended up doing. That makes them the most unbelievable to me.

Only because it's not in retrospect yet

[Maxmoser3]

But for me I would say Gravity at the time scifi films were doing Bleh in the U.S. And the thing with Sandra Bullock and Georoge Clooney in space sounded kinda weird at first

Edited January 18, 2015 by Maxmoser3

[BoxOfficeZ]

I still remember everyone's reaction to TDK's first Monday on BOM. Man, some people were suddenly, "it has a shot at Titanic!"

 

Avatar was pretty unreal looking back at it. 

[Mattrek]

I still remember everyone's reaction to TDK's first Monday on BOM. Man, some people were suddenly, "it has a shot at Titanic!"

Avatar was pretty unreal looking back at it.

Avatar was the most fun on the forums I've ever had. We got tons of new users and a bunch of old users come back for that historic run. Every daily page was 25 pages or more and each day people kept saying it's gotta drop sometime. That never happened and pretty much every daily number we got was above even our highest expectations. Avatar 2 is going to be a blast to track.

[Ezen Baklattan]

In hindsight, it's kind of really crazy that Up did as well as it did with its fairly outlandish plot and relative to other Pixar films, even with 3-D.

[lilmac]

It's not already there?? 

 

Seriously though, I'd rank the top 10 most unbelievable BO runs:

 

1. Titanic
2. Avatar
3. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 
5. The Passion of the Christ 
6. American Sniper (A+ CinemaScore, Clint's fanbase typically waiting till after OW, minimal competition - Kingsman and Jupiter should do mid-level numbers... but I could see this playing all the way until March 20. I'm getting Passion of the Christ vibes from this) 
7. The Blind Side 
8. Frozen
9. Star Wars Episode IV 
10. Forrest Gump 

All of the ones I listed weren't even predicted to do even half of what they ended up doing. That makes them the most unbelievable to me. 

 

 

Good list. E.T.'s run was unbelievable and is 2nd to Titanic in my book. It had more #1 weekends than Titanic and made the equivalent of $1 billion domestic.   

 

 

Fun fact: E.T. was #1 in its 26th weekend!  Umm....whut?  

[lilmac]

Avatar was the most fun on the forums I've ever had. We got tons of new users and a bunch of old users come back for that historic run. Every daily page was 25 pages or more and each day people kept saying it's gotta drop sometime. That never happened and pretty much every daily number we got was above even our highest expectations. Avatar 2 is going to be a blast to track.

 

I think Episode VII has the potential to have an Avatar like performance although it may not get nearly as high (small declines but high grosses through the first few weekends, then the usual drops) with fans watching it multiple times. Of course the movie has to be good.

[CJohn]

One of these days this is gonna be American Sniper

It already is. Every time I look at the Friday number I think on how impossible is to something like this happen again.